Applied Bio-Mechanics (Aquarian-Age Healing, Section One)

How It Works: Contact Release Mechanism

© Ken Ladd & Shay O’Neal
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Dr. John Hurley’s genius in developing Bio-Mechanics (Section One of Aquarian-Age Healing) is in the development of a single contact point that reverses a person’s strain pattern and the associated discomfort and loss of function. Though I have never seen a complete description of the mechanism as to how the process works, I have never needed an exact theory or explanation for something that happens repeatedly with a high degree of predictability. However, I have received a lot of clues in over thirty years of studying and using the work.

• Dr. Hurley’s definitions, centered around an organism’s reaction to the forces and influences from its environment, and his instruction, passed down through his students Dr. E. F. Hayles and Dr. John Tomlinson, established parameters for thinking.

• Dr. E. F. Hayles, my teacher, said that certain muscular fibers have a direct influence on the location and efficacy of the particular contact point. This was stated by Dr. Hurley in the Appendix of his Book One Aquarian-Age Healing for You on page 20: “In contacting this muscle from the point corresponding with the middle of the thigh, or nearer to the median line, we confine the contact to those fibers of the gluteus maximus muscle which arise from the sacrum only.” (Page 205 of the republished book Aquarian-Age Healing Bio-Mechanics.)

• My mentor Dr. John Tomlinson, also a student of Dr. Hurley, referred to "structural stress relief" as a primary benefit of the work. He said that the primary purpose is not to produce a straight body. The release that occurs is associated with the body’s regaining a former adaptive pattern, relief from symptoms, and global body function.

• Dr. Nona Grapes, a naturopathic doctor who was Dr. Hurley’s student in the late 1940s and an associate of Dr. Hayles and Dr. Tomlinson, spent forty years using Bio-Mechanics. She said that bodily functions and processes are linked to body structure: that “the form or structure of the organism as a whole indicates its functional ability;” that “function is dependent on the center of gravity of that structure;” and that “structural alteration means disordered function expressed as symptoms.”

• Peter Edgelow, MA, RPT, DPT, recognized for his work with thoracic outlet syndrome, associated the term “reflex-mediated mechanism” with Applied Bio-Mechanics.

• Wladislaw Ellis, MD, a neurologist who specializes in repetitive strain and thoracic outlet syndromes, after observing the results from Applied Bio-Mechanics treatments, doubled the estimation of time after onset of symptoms before reversal became impossible.

• Patrick Cotter, MA, MPT, DPT, stated that in Applied Bio-Mechanics mechanoreceptors, joint receptors, proprioceptors are all "reset" at the same time that muscles/tendons and ligaments are "reset," and much "normalization" occurs at the same time.

• Darcy Umphred, Ph.D, PT, Professor Emeritus, Department of Physical Therapy, University of the Pacific, Stockton, California, authored a comprehensive book on neurological rehabilitation. After attending an Applied Bio-Mechanics seminar, she agreed that a shift between sympathetic and parasympathetic responses occurs as a result of the contact application.

• In my work with craniosacral therapy, many profound results have been obtained. Its subtle and indirect techniques have always seemed to overlap with the results obtained in Applied Bio-Mechanics.

• During this time my education in anatomy/physiology and other treatment modalities and techniques has increased; and many bodies have given invaluable feedback in response to subtle inputs.

• I have always had the impression that the total system of the organism is reset by proper Applied Bio-Mechanics contact, evidenced by the rapid shift from sympathetic to parasympathetic responses.

All of these ideas have led to a working theory as to how the subtle contact input has such a profound effect on the body. An understanding of how the body becomes strained and maladapted in the first place is pertinent to understanding the contact mechanism.

When the body originally overloads, i.e., when stress (reaction to force) becomes strain (damage), tissues somewhere in the body exceed their elastic limit, are damaged by compression, stretching, or tearing, and cannot return to their original condition when the load is removed. This results in a distorted pattern, involving a shift in the coordination pattern of the neuromusculoskeletal system, and is the body’s attempt to escape pain and continue functioning by quieting a major stimulus caused by the local injury.

The body enters into an adaptational pattern which best permits function in the abnormal condition and, without intervention, disrupts the optimal functioning of the neuromusculoskeletal system, even though it may produce increased comfort in the short term. The proprioception system, which normally gives positional feedback to reestablish a non-contracted muscular balance, is thrown into disarray since that position cannot be attained due to the distorted pattern. The sympathetic nervous system’s response is heightened by hypertonicity and feedback of the muscular system.

The overall effect is a continuing adaptation process as the body attempts to find comfort, function, and balance. The strain/distortion is supported by a balanced pattern of maladapted tensions from the center of gravity of the body. As this condition progresses, the range of motion and the elastic limits of the fascia-musculature narrow, making the body more susceptible to further injury from overloads. This process can be termed an exhaustion cycle, since complete rest and restoration are impossible. This is truly a vicious circle, in that function is continually degraded with increased discomfort and pain denoting damage in form. In essence, the strain pattern replicates or spreads to all parts of the body, resulting in a myriad of secondary symptoms which can indicate disease processes that can ultimately be fatal to the organism.

Once the body is strained and out of balance, in addition to the extra load the body carries because of the strain pattern, there is often a series of incidents, like falling, which cause additional physical environmental loading to the body, and the body responds through further adaptation, which further alters structural relationships of the body. In an adapted position, the local injury where the elastic limit was exceeded will heal to some extent, and the major stimulus will subside.

The adaptation process allows the body a measure of healing, comfort, and function, while sacrificing range of motion and overall vitality. Dr. Hurley’s idea was to reverse the strain pattern to allow true healing rather than “healing” through adaptation. If the body can return from a condition of strain and distortion, in which it has exceeded elastic limits and cannot completely, immediately, and automatically correct, to a condition of stress and deflection, the body can rest .. and true healing can take place.

The sacropelvic complex is the location of the body’s largest muscles and supporting structures, and any strain is necessarily referred to the center of gravity of the body due to direct musculo-fascial connection. Dr. Hurley worked to release the strain pattern in the muscles around the sacrum, initiating a domino effect of releasing the strain pattern throughout the body, and he verified the process through palpation and through verbal feedback from the recipient. How he came to discover the contact points and lines of subtle force is unclear, although once certain realizations took place in working with the muscles at the center of gravity, as he did for several years, one can see that through experimentation and application Dr. Hurley was led to them.

When correct contact is taken with a person in the standing position under the load of gravity, there is an immediate response that shows the effect of a point and a direction of force that will influence the posture at that moment. The light input alters the equilibrium that exists in a strain pattern, and if it is correct, there will be an immediate improvement in the posture of the body. This is dependent upon the contact application, since the change usually will not hold when the contact is removed, but the fact is: the posture shifts and allows you to see the effect of the contact. This fact aids greatly in fine-tuning the contact. It is also interesting that with correct contact the center of gravity of the body will move toward the correct gravity line, even though the subtle lines of force through the contact are not in a direction which the body moves. This indicates an internal process of normalization that is triggered by the contact input. When the contact causes the body to shift toward the plumb line and in a posterior direction (shifting toward the correct center line or line of gravity of the body), it is re-establishing a former postural pattern that was more comfortable and functional, which the body recognizes through its proprioception system.

When the body senses a former postural position, everything in the body, including all the muscle tensions and pulls and fascial tensions, has to rebalance for it to hold. In the standing position, this is dependent on the contact point and lines of drive/force. In the off-gravity prone position, the body’s equilibrium can shift much more easily in response to the contact input, facilitating a rapid restoration of the body’s center of gravity and normalization of the body’s integrated systems, including the neuromusculoskeletal system. Again, this process can be verified through palpation, relief of symptoms, postural relationships, and the shift from sympathetic to parasympathetic responses. This result is strain pattern reversal.

The contact influences the fibers of the gluteus maximus in the contact areas from Contact Point 1 through Contact Point 3. What is important is that those fibers originate from the lower third of the sacrum. According to Dr. Hayles, Dr. Hurley repeatedly said to never take contact nor push on the lower part of the sacrum because it is easy to move the sacrum into an undesired position due to its being a mechanical lever. The lower part of the sacrum can shift a little more easily because it is not bound in by articular cartilage as is the upper part of the sacrum, which is nestled into the ilia. By taking correct contact on the contracted muscle fibers that influence the lower part of the sacrum, a very light contact can have a far-reaching effect. This effect is not on the sacrum alone, since its muscular attachments influence the entire muscular system. In changing the equilibrium of the sacrum through releases in the gluteus maximus, you are necessarily changing the tensions of all the muscles in the body.

Though the contact touches into the skin and adipose tissue around the muscle, there are fascial strands that connect the skin to the gluteus maximus fibers, and the contact influences those fibers. In every contact the input is a force toward the origin of the muscle on the sacrum and away from the axis of the muscle. CP1, for example, has a secondary line of drive/force toward the tip of the opposite shoulder, so you are very much lined up with the fibers. Proceeding from a CP1 through CP3, contact is taken on different fibers due to the gluteus maximus crossing the gluteal crease obliquely. In CP3, in which the contact has a secondary line of drive to the same shoulder, the contact crosses the fibers of the muscle at a greater angle.

Once the contact has been carefully marked to show both the contact point and the line of drive, it can be re-established when the body is in a prone position on the therapy table. This position is the result of much experimentation and refinement. It places the body in a position of neutral relationships, which more easily facilitate release of contracted patterns. This position has been well-researched and used since Hurley’s time with consistent results.

The contact influences the gluteal muscle by shortening and increasing the girth of the muscle which is usually already in a contracted position. The contact compresses the muscle fibers toward their origin and also pulls very lightly on the fascial membranes surrounding the muscle in a lateral direction. It puts the muscle into a position of exaggerated contraction, which triggers its release. This technique for muscle release is utilized in several light-touch therapies and is accomplished through the light restrictive forces applied at the contact point.

When the contact is correctly applied, a response can be sensed by the therapist in the gluteal fibers in as little as three seconds, and often the client will immediately feel a loosening from the contact point into the sacral area. Reversal of tension patterns will then spread from the center of gravity of the body outward in all directions throughout the entire body. Release indications will become apparent through sight, sound, and touch throughout the body. The proprioception system will reset to a former coordinated functional structural pattern. The heightened sympathetic responses will lessen as the parasympathetic responses increase, resulting in bodily systems regaining homeostasis. This is a resetting of the entire body and its biocomputer. It is simply a culmination of John Hurley’s genius.

The entire process is usually accomplished in thirty minutes without using a thrust or force of over a few grams. This application of extremely minute forces makes the work very safe, coupled with the fact that the therapist has to make no determination regarding bodily components that are out of place or where they need to be. The shifts in the body are facilitated through the body’s own sensory systems being able to release patterns of contraction and reestablish comfortable, functional relationships. Usually, the symptoms related to the distortion/strain pattern will immediately disappear or progress rapidly toward a healthy state.